Author's Note: Okay so this is the penultimate chapter of Lost Boy! I finished the final one last night and that should be up sometime this coming weekend hopefully (probably) :)
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As Eliza knocks on the door Charlie's world starts spiralling out of control and he's falling so far and so fast that he's sure he must be headed towards the earth's core.
He hears the sounds of the lock being undone and he feels sweat begin to coat his palms.
The door opens slowly and it's like his heart has suddenly been sent into overdrive, like a million butterflies have been set loose in his stomach.
Seeing Finn's face sends tingles through his nerves and Charlie can't help the small smile that captures his lips. Somehow, still, seeing Finn makes him relax; makes him able to stand a little straighter and feel a little taller. It's infuriating and pleasant all at once, why should a mere boy have this power over Charlie, the ability to raise or destroy him in a single breath.
"Eliza?" Surprise lingers in Finn's voice.
"Hey! So, Charlie has something he'd like to say to you."
Finn looks over Eliza's shoulder and notices the group of boys stood behind her. Charlie is just amazed that he doesn't shut the door straight away.
In fact Finn takes a moment to drink Charlie in. Gaze lingering on the bruises ringing his eyes and the way his hands are shaking. In that moment Charlie realises that Finn has missed him just as much as he's missed Finn. And maybe that means he has a chance, it makes something stir deep in Charlie's chest.
"Hey." Charlie speaks so quietly that he has to take a step closer so that Finn can hear him.
"Hey."
"I, uhm, didn't really wanna come here. But Eliza and Dan and Jonah made me."
Finn's expression morphs into one of shock when he recognises the two boys stood by Charlie's side, probably wondering what has changed since he last spoke to them all, back when Daniel and Jonah seemed to hate Charlie and things didn't look like they were ever going to work out.
"We've, uh, worked things out I guess," Charlie continues, somewhat nervously.
"Good."
Finn honestly sounds like he'd rather be anywhere else than here with Charlie stood on his doorstep and for a moment Charlie feels bad, for intruding on his life like this. But then Charlie focuses on his erratic heartbeat and the underlying concern in Finn's eyes that shows he still cares. And he decides right there and then that this is not something that deserves to be given up on, maybe they'll never be the same and maybe Finn will never forgive him but Charlie has to at least tell the other boy the truth, he'd rather speak his mind now than spend the rest of his life with the words eating his brain alive.
"I need to talk to you."
Charlie doesn't say want because it's not just something he'd like anymore, it's something he needs, like the oxygen in his lungs and the blood in his veins. He needs to talk to Finn and not even about anything in particular. He wants to ask him how his day has been, whether one of his professors is still hitting on him. He wants to hear about every stupid little detail of Finn's life that he's missed out on over the past few days, every minute detail of his days, just so he can check that Finn is still the boy he left behind.
Charlie needs to make sure that Finn is the kind and sweet boy he knew, the one who threaded a crown of daisies for him and calls him sunshine and holds his hand whenever things get hard, even if they're just as hard on him. Charlie needs to know that Finn isn't that boy from the other night, the one with the cruel smirk and knife-like words, who swung insults like punches and spoke truths without whispering or making sure Charlie was okay with hearing them said allowed.
